The question posed as the title of this blog is one that I have heard too many times. The answer is simple, Because Jesus mandated us to.

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8

But here is another reason. In our community there are over 50 churches for a population of maybe 75,000 people. In fact a great majority of the US population profess faith in God and Jesus Christ. So considering that 85% acknowledge a faith and that there are a high number of churches spread through the communities of the USA it is easy to surmise that the Gospel has and is being heard or is known.

But what of the rest of the world? In the 1040 window of the earth where there is the greatest population there is as few as 2% Christian of 3.15 billion population. For this reason missions to foreign countries is imperative. The mandate of Christ has yet to be fulfilled. This is why it has been an emphasis and purpose of our fellowship. So we pray and trust the Lord to empower us and provide the resources for 2019 to expand our mission work and to see more missionaries teams sent to take the message of Jesus to a lost world.

I ask you to pray and we enter this new year. Seek the Lord’s will and Great Commission to be fulfilled in us until, he returns.

A frequently remembered and quoted text is the apostle Paul’s encouragement to have the mind of Christ. But do we grasp the totality of his words?

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Philippians 2:5-8

Likely when reading this verse you raise up praise for what he did to make possible your salvation. This would be a just response. However, the words are not written to induce praise but a change of mind following the servant character of Jesus.

So the question must follow, “How did Jesus demonstrate what a servant is? Paul answers, “...humbled himself (though equal to God) and became obedient (to God his Father), so much so that he was willing to sacrifice himself , even to the point of death. Humility was the mind of Christ and the manifestation of this mind was his leaving his home in heaven and coming to this world as a man to give himself for the undeserving. Jesus the great missionary fulfilled the great commandment to love God and love others (Matt. 22:37-40).

So to have his mind is to have his ministry of service to sacrifice for the spiritual benefit of others. This is the foundation of all ministry and missions. Our life given for the lives of others. You can’t have his mind without the other.

I pray that you would give yourself to Paul’s encouragement to join our Lord in service and perpetuate his mission.

Over the years I have seen the Church respond to the numerous natural disasters of tornados, tsunamis, earthquakes and hurricanes. This, in itself, is not bad nor am I against the Church responding financially, materially or with sending volunteers. However, has the Church become just as reactionary and temporary in its attention span as a CNN or FOX news? These news services focus and exploit these attention getting events for ratings, but once the event has lost its excitement or some other event is more extraordinary or disastrous then the interest ends and the story fades.

The case in point is Japan the earthquake/tsunami of 2011. We, with other ministries and churches, responded following the disaster. We sent a team soon after to help in the area of Ishinomaki, north of Sendai. The devastation and loss of life was horrible. Teams and ministries from the US as well as others from or out of Japan flooded into all the areas most affected. But once the ministry of relief was no longer needed so was the influx of funds and volunteers. However, when the relief ends the real ministry actually begins for there are still lives that are shattered, in fear and without hope and most importantly people are still without Jesus. This is why we have committed to continue our support to the ongoing mission work in the area and sending teams to come along side the missionaries to perpetuate the witness. Consistency is where the real witness exists.

In our last trip in July I was able to speak with many and there was reactions of surprise and then deep thankfulness when they heard of my returning five times since the tsunami. Questions like, “Why do you come back?” or “Why did you care about us?” are presented to me. Many times with tearful eyes.

There is one gentleman with his mom who own a stationary store that I met on my first trip. They were busy scavenging through the pile and debris in their store. They were not willing to do more than acknowledge my hello. On the 2nd and third trip the same or they were not at their store. But in 2013 I was able to visit them the week they reopened their store. They didn’t remember me but as I shared my joy for their reopening their hearts opened to listen and hear God's love for Japan. They sat and share with me the horrible experience they had when the tsunami hit and the struggles they had with reopening their store. Their thankful hearts were obvious when they insisted I accept a gift. Then this year I visited again and to my surprise the son remembered my name as soon as he saw me. He and his mom again welcomed me into their store with my translator in tow. The time was even more precious and personal for they asked deeper questions about my faith and listened intently as my translator shared her personal testimony. Again the door of their hearts squeaked open a little more.

So in a manner of speaking a relief effort still exists in Japan. It is no longer the delivering of food and resources to a battered community but the delivering of God’s living water to thirsty souls. The opportunity is turning white for harvest but the laborers are less than before so we will pray as the Lord of the harvest that he send more laborers.

"How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things.” Rom.10:14-15.

Thirteen years has passed since two airliners were flown into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon and one crashed after heroic passengers attempted to take on their high-jackers. It doesn't take much to remember what I was doing when I heard of the attacks. The trips I took to respond, as so many other Americans did, to support and minister to New Yorkers immediatly invokes a lot of emotion. At times in discussion with others that responded I will even smell the stench of the rubble as if I was still there. But most of all my heart cries for those who were lost and the many I met, prayed with, spoke with and cried with that lost loved ones or had the haunting experience of being in Manhattan that day.

I haven't had the opportunity yet to return to see the 9/11 Memorial but I will. However, with tears, my prayers continue to be presented to the Lord on behalf of those still hurting, for those wives and children of first responders who gave their lives saving others, for the people of New York and for our nation.